Thirty minutes for a large band?

I find it impossible to believe that the National Carnival Commission (NCC) expects a large band of 3,000-plus masqueraders to cross the Queen's Park Savannah stage in 30 minutes. Twenty years ago, as part of my job, I timed how long it took bands—large, medium and small—to cross that stage. At that time, 600 masqueraders and over was considered a large band. 

Is the NCC saying that that 30-minute limit applies to all large bands, whether they have 600 masqueraders or 3,000? This is ridiculous!  Most of the large bands had more than 3,000 players and none took less than 50 minutes to cross that stage. Of course, the longer a band queued on the streets outside waiting to get to the Savannah, the longer its members wanted to remain on the stage. 

What the NCC should be doing is banning those bands that are not really in the competition.  A certain well-known large band gets to the Savannah early every Carnival Tuesday for one reason only: to be seen by the television cameras. The NCC is still to discourage this practice. 

That particular band has not been seen at any other competition venue, apart from, perhaps, Adam Smith Square, in many years, so why should it be allowed to parade on the Savannah stage just to fulfil a selfish ambition?
Why enforce an impossible rule and disqualify bands or deny them points?  
Has the NCC done any study on how long it will take over 3000 prancing masqueraders to move past a particular point? 
 

Clyde Alphonso
Diego Martin